I predict that the eligibility age for Medicare and Social Security will be 80 by the time I turn 65. That is, if the US of A doesn't cease to exist, replaced by Panem.

/i'll be watching those hunger games, if only for the sheer novelty of it

All I need for retirement is enough money to afford one bullet.

AlwaysRightBoy: I've been conditioning myself for retirement for the last 20 years by firing all my underlings that wear flip flops to work:) Job security.
/seriously who shows up to work in midtown Manhattan with flip flops and a ping pong ball for beer pong on thirsty Thursdays?
/Yes we have thirsty Thursdays for the kids
//have no illusions about never retiring after looking at my 401k. Been paying into it for over twenty-five years

It is time to install the Galloping Senility.

Nothing new here. Having screwed themselves over for the last 50+ years americans suddenly realise they are now peasants in a third world country.

My mom is 75 and still works full-time. It's really sad. My dad is 78 and just retired 2 years ago due to health reasons. Wish I was rich so they didn't have to work.

Sid_6.7: unlikely: So all you gen-X and gen-Y babies can count on an extra 15 years before promotion is even an option, especially if you're in a union job. Ta daaa!

That's nice, but you're screwing other people at least as much as you all screwed yourselves. Or, to be blunt: piss off and die quickly.

I'm pretty sure we didn't screw ourselves. Prior to Reagan, Social Security was a given and, as far as I know, 401Ks didn't exist, yet. Now, I'm putting as much of my paycheck as I can in the 401K, but there's no way I'll have enough money in there, buy the time I retire, even assuming I get a good interest rate between now and then. (I lost $5500, last quarter.)

gadian: I've known a few people in their 80's who are in great shape, mind and body. Most aren't. Just keep that in mind.

Not necessarily. My parents just hit 70 and, while the number of medical problems they have over the course of a year has been (slowly) increasing over time, they're still wiping their own asses just fine. (None of the medical problems they've had so far is likely to change that.)

Dadoo: Sid_6.7: unlikely: So all you gen-X and gen-Y babies can count on an extra 15 years before promotion is even an option, especially if you're in a union job. Ta daaa!

That's nice, but you're screwing other people at least as much as you all screwed yourselves. Or, to be blunt: piss off and die quickly.

I'm pretty sure we didn't screw ourselves. Prior to Reagan, Social Security was a given and, as far as I know, 401Ks didn't exist, yet. Now, I'm putting as much of my paycheck as I can in the 401K, but there's no way I'll have enough money in there, buy the time I retire, even assuming I get a good interest rate between now and then. (I lost $5500, last quarter.)

Prior to Reagan, I'm pretty sure most people had pensions....

They sold our our futures for a faster payoff today.
That's what happens to a nation in decline.

You don't fly to the moon, you don't own supersonic airliners, you don't build high speed trains or drive over powered muscle cars, and you don't retire (or own a home or have a large family or have any disposable income for that matter).

All you get is a fist full of promises from your party of choice that they'll make everything better.

/They never seem to get around to it, tho.
/Reagan's presidency ended almost thirty years ago.

I'm going to stop working...at a job I don't thoroughly enjoy...when I'm 60. The house will be payed off for a good 12 years by that point, and I'm a miser...I enjoy doing things that don't cost much money. I'm going to take a fun type job working at a cool place like a nature center for minimum wage part time if I have to.

...if my current job doesn't kill me before then, of course. (Was a 40-hour job when I hired in 12 years ago, is now a take-it-or-leave-it 55-hour job. Arg.)

CDC average US life expectancy: 78 years. (new window)

So not only will you not be able to retire, you must also spend time as a zombie slave paying off the Jags of the 1%.

fredbox: All I need for retirement is enough money to afford one bullet.

Yeah, we're gonna need you to come in on Saturday. Not a half day. Mmmkay?

My industry here in Canada has finally wised up and is putting the old war horses out to pasture. Management got sick of the old bastards 65+ clogging the system, people were leaving the industry at an alarming rate and the #1 complaint was dealing with and stalled careers due to the old gaurd not getting the fark out of the way.

Those old bastards have been making $1500 a day (Or equivalent due to inflation) since the mid 70's and they can't afford to retire? I worked with one guy who was 70 had 6 houses drove a 100g truck and was complaining he couldn't afford to retire. How can someone who took home 337g for the year of 2010 not be in a position to retire? In the end he was fired for incompetence and gross safety violations. The 1970's are over let it go.

I have no problem with people who wish to stay working but damn it make sure your skills are up to date and your head set is current for the new ways the industry adopts, if not fark OFF

The problem is that old people are not dying as fast as they used to.

Look at Japan to see how a growing aging population that are entitled and refuses to die while combined with low birthrates can screw over your country.

Sid_6.7: That's nice, but you're screwing other people at least as much as you all screwed yourselves. Or, to be blunt: piss off and die quickly.

Look, it's the fault of companies that gutted pensions in order to give bonuses to their top executives, companies that have outsourced more and more people, companies that do everything possible to screw the working person to make an extra $1 for their quarterly profit report.

Blaming it on a mid-level employee that has to work till he drops dead so he's not eating cat food because his pension was negotiated away in bankruptcy court while record bonuses were paid to the top managers that drove the company into the ground (happened to my father) is absolutely odious.

Ow My Balls: I'm going to stop working...at a job I don't thoroughly enjoy...when I'm 60. The house will be payed off for a good 12 years by that point, and I'm a miser...I enjoy doing things that don't cost much money. I'm going to take a fun type job working at a cool place like a nature center for minimum wage part time if I have to.

...if my current job doesn't kill me before then, of course. (Was a 40-hour job when I hired in 12 years ago, is now a take-it-or-leave-it 55-hour job. Arg.)

Sounds like a good plan. By then, health insurance should only be $4,000 a month or so.

Retirement??? HA! At my own funeral I'll be lucky to get the day off!

you can go fark yourself if you think im working till im 80.

CayceP: I always assumed I'd work until I died anyway.

Yup.

When the retirement age was set at 65, what was the life expectancy, something like 68? So, as much as it sucks, it makes sense that the retirement age should increase as the length of our lives does. Not that I like the idea, I hate it. My plan was to "retire" at 65 and spend 10 or 15 years working somewhere fun, like Ow My Balls plans to. Not gonna happen. Sigh.

Dear 25 year olds.

You are idiots.

Cut your cellphone and xbox subscription back, or drive that old car another couple of years, and start stashing $250 a month. That's it.

Conservatively - I mean 5.5 percent - your have almost half a million bucks at 65.

And get off my lawn.

Fallout Boy: The problem is that old people are not dying as fast as they used to.

Look at Japan to see how a growing aging population that are entitled and refuses to die while combined with low birthrates can screw over your country.

This is why we need young immigrants!

Ozarkhawk: Conservatively - I mean 5.5 percent - your have almost half a million bucks at 65.

wow, in 40 years that'll last them about 6 months.

The largest survey to date shows the average boomer has $40,000 saved for retirement. 1/3 have NOTHING. I work as a financial adviser, and I see this shiat every day. I can't tell you the number of times I've been approached by a 55 year old with little to no savings, and all kinds of debt. The question is always, "how can I retire at 65?" The answer of course is that you can't! You've got a McMansion with granite counter tops, and a 2 year old ford F250 that you use as your daily commuter, just so you can pull you $30,000 boat twice a year.

While I agree that many people got screwed over by games that were played with pensions, the vast majority of the blame lies with the boomers themselves. They've allowed themselves to be molded into the perfect consumers. They spend beyond there means, and keep doing it, never thinking of the future. They are blessed to be on the receiving end of the greatest transfer of wealth in history when their parents die, and yet at the same time they have set up a system that will result in the greatest theft of wealth from one generation to another.

As a voting block they will control the system for at least the next twenty years, and we will be paying for their excess for far longer than that. My future, and my child's future, and perhaps even her children's future have all been leveraged to pay for a single generations unsustainable life style.

So that's you legacy boomers, that's what your leaving your children and grand children; poverty, and misery. The United States of America may not even survive your willful negligence. I hope your proud of what your generation has achieved.

acronym: Ozarkhawk: Conservatively - I mean 5.5 percent - your have almost half a million bucks at 65.

wow, in 40 years that'll last them about 6 months.

Which is a good reason not to do it, right? The same reasoning that got us here.

tbyte: AlwaysRightBoy: I've been conditioning myself for retirement for the last 20 years by firing all my underlings that wear flip flops to work:) Job security.
/seriously who shows up to work in midtown Manhattan with flip flops and a ping pong ball for beer pong on thirsty Thursdays?
/Yes we have thirsty Thursdays for the kids
//have no illusions about never retiring after looking at my 401k. Been paying into it for over twenty-five years

Haha, that's funny!

/I thought it was just me who didnt understand

Ozarkhawk: Cut your cellphone and xbox subscription back, or drive that old car another couple of years, and start stashing $250 a month. That's it.

Conservatively - I mean 5.5 percent - your have almost half a million bucks at 65.

Yes, that age is only facing incredibly high unemployment combined with falling wages, rising cost of living, and staggering student loan debt. Obviously the answer is that they waste all their money on cell phones and xboxes. Why, if they just saved that, they'd be fine. Except for the fact we have farking historically low interest rates.

Since most 25 year olds can't afford an investment adviser, lets say they take the safe route and put it into CDs. Last I looked, Chase was offering a 5 year CD at about 1.5%. Of course, they could start dumping their money into a volatile market. That's a proven record for success.

"plan to" and "the new reality is" couldn't be further apart.

You may "plan to" retire at 80.

"The new reality is" no one is hiring anyone over 59. No, your college degree doesn't matter. No, not your work experience. No, not your Nobel prize, either. Unless you're an entrepreneur, if you're working more than 20hr/wk at under-$10/hr it's because your place hasn't had the heart to kick you out when most of their competitors would.

The biggest variable you can adjust in the "new reality" of being pushed into retirement at 60 is your expectation of retirement. There are smaller towns with very low housing prices. You aren't going to drive a Pace Arrow around the country like your pensioned parents did. Deal with it.

Ozarkhawk: Conservatively - I mean 5.5 percent - your have almost half a million bucks at 65.

which ain't shiat to retire on.


/do your math again...

Another one of these threads?

/Kisses my healthy government-backed defined benefit pension fully available at age 58.

I must be doing it wrong. I'm looking at "retired by 40" if I play my cards right. And if cashing rent checks counts as being retired.

You wanna retire?

Go die, yo!

Ozarkhawk: Dear 25 year olds.

You are idiots.

Cut your cellphone and xbox subscription back, or drive that old car another couple of years, and start stashing $250 a month. That's it.

Conservatively - I mean 5.5 percent - your have almost half a million bucks at 65.

And get off my lawn.

The 250$ that most of them would be saving is going into over-inflated prices for housing food and gas. These excess profit dollars are going into the investment accounts and hedge funds of the 1%, who area paying some vicious, coke-addicted meathead a pittance to figure out how they can steal a tiny sliver of income every month from everyone by having a particular contract that means that even WITHOUT DOING ANYTHING they get a cut.

Keep De-leveraging boys, you have another three years to go before people can afford the things they need.

Ozarkhawk: Conservatively - I mean 5.5 percent - your have almost half a million bucks at 65.

I'd be laughing if it wasn't so sad. Nothing pays 5.5% these days. A $100k 5 year CD barely hits 2% if you shop around.

Hamster On A Wheel: When the retirement age was set at 65, what was the life expectancy, something like 68? So, as much as it sucks, it makes sense that the retirement age should increase as the length of our lives does. Not that I like the idea, I hate it. My plan was to "retire" at 65 and spend 10 or 15 years working somewhere fun, like Ow My Balls plans to. Not gonna happen. Sigh.

Yeah about that "people used to die at 68" thing, not so much (new window)

We've got a larger fraction of the population making it past 21 but the life expectancy once you hit 65, provided you made it there, hasn't changed much..

Does anyone else remember the futurists and propaganda in the 50s and early 60s regarding how advancements in science and automation would have us working 20 hour weeks by 2000? I watch them and laugh and laugh and then cry.

mekkab: Ozarkhawk: Conservatively - I mean 5.5 percent - your have almost half a million bucks at 65.

which ain't shiat to retire on.


/do your math again...

250 a month, 5.5 interest, compounded annually, is $435,268.88 in 40 years.

Beyond that, how do you know it isn't shiat to retire on? I certainly didn't expect over 13 percent inflation in 1980, but I also didnt expect less than 2 percent in 1998.

The point is, something is better than nothing.

You know if this stuff doesn't change I have almost zero doubt that there will be massive violence about it in the next few decades.